Future-proofing your SAP HANA deployment on Google Cloud with SUSE for scale-out high availability

Google Cloud is delighted to introduce the latest offering in the area of SAP HANA Scale-out high availability deployment, a new automated deployment guide powered by Terraform Google Cloud Platform Provider.

Scaling out refers to the process of combining multiple independent Compute Engine instances to create a unified SAP system. This approach is primarily adopted to overcome the hardware limitations associated with fitting an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or Business Warehouse (BW) system into a single large virtual machine.

Earlier this year, we released a comprehensive step-by-step, manual deployment guide that provided detailed instructions for setting up SAP HANA Scale-out, ensuring high availability through utilizing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications and SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. This guide served as a valuable resource for our joint clients.

Today, we are pleased to present an enhanced option that further simplifies the deployment process and streamlines the implementation of SAP HANA Scale-out high availability, allowing for increased efficiency and productivity.

A robust SAP HANA scale-out high availability cluster for uninterrupted operations

Customers like PayPal have successfully implemented the world's largest SAP HANA scale-out high availability cluster, sized at 96TB, hosted on robust Google Cloud infrastructure.

To attain optimal uptime and ensure continuous operations, a best practice is to deploy two SAP HANA systems that are replicated across separate zones within a region. By distributing the SAP HANA systems across different zones within the same region, any localized outages in one zone will not impact the availability of the entire system. This approach guarantees high availability and mitigates potential risks while also accommodating the expansion of SAP capabilities.

Advantages of choosing the SAP HANA Scale-out HA solution on Google Cloud

While Google already provides extra-large Bare Metal Solutions tailored for SAP workloads for scale-up scenarios, hosting your workloads in Compute Engine instances presents numerous advantages:

• Horizontal scalability, making it easier to expand your infrastructure as your needs grow.

• Transparent host maintenance through live migration, which ensures uninterrupted operations and minimal disruptions.

• A broader range of regions and zones for deployment, affording you greater flexibility and options when configuring your infrastructure.

Currently, Google Cloud supports scale-out configuration with up to 12TB memory, which PayPal uses as part of its deployment. As part of the commitment to enhancing services, we plan to extend scale-out support to even larger machines, providing customers with even more scalability and performance options to meet their evolving business needs.

Overview of the solution architecture

When it comes to SAP high-availability solutions operating on Google Cloud, SUSE-based offerings are a go-to choice for many partners and customers, gaining widespread adoption among enterprises. And like in life, good things come in threes:

1. The high availability layer of the SAP HANA scale-out solution is managed by the SUSE High Availability Extension, which leverages the power of the Pacemaker open-source software framework. Pacemaker automates HANA scale-out failover, letting you tackle planned and unplanned downtime challenges.

2. To ensure optimal performance and compatibility, the solution is built upon the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, an SAP Endorsed Application. This signifies that the solution meets SAP's standards for seamless integration and optimal performance within SAP environments. The preloaded saptune tool is a valuable configuration tool for optimizing system performance with SAP workloads. It simplifies the task for system administrators by implementing the recommended configurations from diverse SAP notes.

3. The solution harnesses the robustness and capabilities of the Google Cloud infrastructure ecosystem.

A strategic partnership for SUSE and Google Cloud

SUSE has been at the forefront of collaboration with Google Cloud, delivering groundbreaking solutions for SAP HANA scale-up, scale-out, NetWeaver, and S/4HANA high-availability solutions on Google Cloud.^[1]

As an industry leader in this space, SUSE continues to drive innovation by optimizing SUSE software performance. SUSE has implemented three HA/DR provider hook scripts that bolster the reliability and integrity of an SAP environment. These hook scripts play a crucial role in minimizing downtime, mitigating the risk of data loss, and optimizing monitoring intervals for SAP HANA. Refer to the Appendix below for more details.

Notably, SUSE introduced a new Fencing Agent and Floating IP resource agent for SAP NetWeaver and S/4HANA high-availability environments, which will soon also be available for SAP HANA deployments. These components significantly improve the resiliency and stability of SAP environments, helping to ensure uninterrupted operations and minimizing potential disruptions. To ensure a seamless experience for our clients, all of these software components and enhancements are accessible through SUSE enterprise-grade software repositories.

SLES image for for SAP applications on Google Cloud Marketplace

All the software and features from SUSE mentioned above are conveniently preloaded in the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) image of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, available from the Google Cloud Marketplace. By opting for this image and signing a three-year contract, you can significantly reduce your operational expenses related to the operating system, with potential savings of up to 63%.^[2]

As an added advantage, customers with ten or more instances of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications in the PAYG model can benefit from additional complimentary SUSE subscriptions that provide unrestricted access to:

1. SUSE Manager: An infrastructure management solution that manages, simplifies, and secures your entire Linux environment.

2. SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching: Apply patches and critical updates to your Linux kernel that hosts your SAP environment without rebooting your system.

APPENDIX

The table provided below presents a concise summary of the functionality of each HA/DR script:

^Footnotes

^{[1] Supported High Availability Solutions by SLES for SAP Applications
[2] Resource-based committed use discounts
[3] Emergency Braking for SAP HANA Dying Indexserver
[4] SAP HANA Cockpit with SUSE HA integration greatly improves data integrity}